It has pretty much been a perfect storm for Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks in the first few games the one-time NBA champion coach has been in charge. Rivers took the mantle ahead of a brutal five-game road trip for the Bucks, which featured tough matchups against some of the best teams in the Western Confernece.
Milwaukee has been dealing with a slew of injuries of late as well, thereby adding more complications to Rivers’ already extremely challenging transition period.
Taking this and a few other factors into consideration, you can’t really be shocked that the Bucks are now 1-3 under Coach Doc’s watch.
Khris Middleton Gets Real on Doc Rivers’ Milwaukee Bucks Transition
Throughout the past week, Rivers has had to learn the systems that have been ingrained in his new team and on the players. The 62-year-old is expected to bring in his own stuff to the table, but for the most part, it has been Coach Doc who has been making most of the adjustments.
Communication has been key.
“Just us talking to him about what plays we like to run for the majority of time during practices,” Bucks star Khris Middleton said, in regards to how they’ve tried to make things work, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “Then, in games, we kind of know at certain times what we want to run and we’ll go to Doc about the play we want to run.”
According to Middleton, Rivers has kept an open mind and the veteran coach has been listening to what his players have to say. It has been a two-way street between Coach Doc and his players.
“Sometimes we run it, sometimes we don’t, but it’s a conversation at this point because he’s trying to learn our terminology, what we like to call, plays and actions that we like to run,” Middleton continued. “But he’s also trying to figure out how to take us to the next level. So it’s a collaborative, group effort right now trying to get on the same page as quick as we can.”
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